You Are Not Alone
by Penelope Louise
Summary: Rachel invites Finn to her family's Hanukkah celebrations. Finn/Rachel.


_**A/N: My first Glee fic! I hope you enjoy it!**_

_**Pairing**__**: Finn/Rachel, slight Finn/Brittany… but not much.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee. Would anyone like to get it for me? You know, since it IS the holidays!**_

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Rachel walked into the classroom where they held Glee Club. They only had a few days left at school before McKinley High closed for the holidays. None of the other Glee Club members had arrived yet, so she set her plate of cookies on a chair and sat down at the piano and began to play.

As her fingers danced over the ivory keys and the music filled the room, she began to sing. Her voice entwined with the music, a lilting ballad about love: loving a person who missed all the hints. It interlocked with her life very nicely.

It was the main reason she had composed it.

As she drew the song to a close she heard someone clapping behind her and she froze.

"I've never heard that one before," Puck said and Rachel grimaced. She had hoped it was someone else.

"What did you think?" she asked cheerily.

"Interesting," Puck answered, smirking. "Who were you singing about? It's either me or Finn, anyway."

"I don't know why you would think that," Rachel replied haughtily.

"Well, your pining over some guy who thought that he got his girlfriend pregnant even though they hadn't had sex is lame, Berry," Puck informed her.

"Leave her alone," Finn's voice came from the other side of the room and Puck and Rachel both froze. Rachel swore silently. She hadn't even noticed that Finn was in the room.

"Why? Do you want me to stop teasing your girlfriend?" Puck taunted and Finn balled up his fists in anger.

The door opened and Quinn walked in before stopping. Puck and Finn looked like they were having an epic staring contest while Rachel sat in between them looking exceptionally worried.

"Hi, Quinn!" Rachel jumped up and grinned at the pregnant ex-cheerleader, thankful to have someone else there. She offered Quinn a cookie. "Cookie?"

Quinn smiled and took one. "Thanks," she smiled appreciatively. Finn still hated Puck, but he had softened slightly to Quinn again. Rachel and Quinn had become friends – which had surprised everyone, including Quinn and Rachel – as when Quinn had left Finn's house and been denied at Puck's, Rachel had let Quinn temporarily live at hers. Temporarily had turned into weeks, and then into months. Rachel's dads had no problem with it.

Soon enough, the rest of the Glee Club trickled in, Mr Schuester along with them.

He produced a stack of sheet music.

"I have some possibilities for Regionals," he informed them as he handed them out. "There are solos for everyone."

There were names written at the top of each first page and Rachel quickly flicked through to find hers. _You Are Not Alone. _She smiled: it was a great song. And – bonus! – she was singing it with Finn.

"What did you get?" everyone was asking.

They started practicing, and they began with _Bad Boys – _to be sung by Quinn.

_Oh the bad boys_

_Are always catching my eye_

_Oh the bad boys_

_Are always spinning my mind_

She thought about it. Yes, it was technically true. Puck wasn't exactly the picture of innocence.

Mercedes was the most please with her song, as Mr Schuester had given her Tik Tok – performed by Ke$ha – to sing. Tina was relatively pleased as she was given Use Somebody to sing with Artie.

Brittany was to sing Chemicals React… if she could remember the words and didn't lose her music while Santana had been given Cry by Kelly Clarkson.

Mr Schuester chose the second person to rehearse: Kurt.

He didn't really need the backing singers; he was almost note-perfect.

_I can't believe it's over  
I watched the whole thing fall  
And I never saw the writing that was on the wall  
If I'd only knew  
The days were slipping past  
That the good things never last  
That you were crying_

For some reason, the song actually suited Kurt.

Matt – who had never sung a solo – had been given _Rule the World _and he held the sheet music like it was going to bite him.

As Finn read through his own solo music he thought of the girl who it reminded him of. _Miss Independent. _He supposed that it could also be Quinn, the new Quinn. But it actually reflected Rachel's character. She didn't depend on anyone.

_Another day has gone  
I'm still all alone  
How could this be  
You're not here with me  
You never said goodbye  
Someone tell me why  
Did you have to go  
And leave my world so cold_

_Everyday I sit and ask myself  
How did love slip away  
Something whispers in my ear and says  
That you are not alone  
For I am here with you  
Though you're far away  
I am here to stay_

Will smiled as Rachel and Finn sung through the song that was mostly Rachel's solo, but with Finn as the male lead. It suited them, he had to admit. He was quite proud of his song choices.

"But you are not alone, for I am here with you," Rachel smiled at Finn.

"Though we're far apart, you're always in my heart," were the answering lyrics. Finn looked up from his music.

"But you are not alone," they sang together as Brad brought the music to a close.

As Rachel left to go to her last math class of the semester, Finn ran to catch up with her.

"Are you doing anything for Christmas?" he asked as he walked next to her.

"I don't celebrate Christmas," she smiled at his naivety, "I'm Jewish. We celebrate Hanukkah."

"Oh," Finn looked confused. "Are you doing anything for Hanukkah?"

"Just dinner with my parents on the last day," Rachel shrugged; it wasn't a great deal like some people's Christmases were. It was more of a close family celebration. Then she had an idea: "Would you like to come?"

"Uh, I'm not Jewish…" Finn reminded her.

"You don't have to pray or anything, just come and see what its like," Rachel conceded. She actually wondered what Puck was doing for Hanukkah. Probably getting drunk and not praying, knowing him.

"Okay! When?" Finn smiled, feeling quite pleased with himself. His mom would be happy for him getting a taste of other cultures.

"The 19th of December," she told him and at his blank look added, "Saturday."

"Oh," Finn grinned. "Should I bring presents?"

Rachel shrugged noncommittally. "If you wish. The tradition is for every day of Hanukkah – that's the 11th to the 19th this year – you give a small gift to everyone in your family. But you don't have to bring presents, Finn."

"Oh no, I want to!" Finn informed her happily. He had a Plan. A Very Important Plan. Well, not really, but it was certainly a Plan. "What class have you got next?"

"Math," she answered.

"Me too!" Finn grinned, and Rachel wondered how he had neglected to notice that she had been in his math class since the beginning of the year.

When they arrived to the classroom, Finn invited Rachel to sit with him, Santana and Brittany. Luckily, no one got upset at the new addition to the table. Today's agenda was a Test. An Extra Credit Test.

And Rachel was good at math.

As their teacher, Ms. Lisbon handed out their papers Rachel wrote her name at the top and stuck one of her signature gold stars at the top.

Brittany read the first question. _What is the square root of 81? _She blinked blankly.

"What's a square root?" she whispered to Rachel who whispered back:

"The answer's 9," Brittany grinned and wrote down 8.

Finn couldn't help but smile at the adorable Cheerio as he wrote down 9. He had actually known the answer; he just needed confirmation.

_2. In an equilateral triangle one angle is 60 degrees. What are the other angles?_

Rachel wrote down her answer – it was so easy! – and watched the other two copy her answer. Finn copied subtly, Brittany not so much. Santana was copying from Finn's paper.

_3. In a scalene triangle one angle is 84 degrees. Angle a = 2b. What is angle b?_

Rachel quickly did some mental calculations and wrote down 48 degrees. She glanced at Brittany who was doodling on her paper and at Finn, who was looking exceptionally confused. Santana was the only other person writing… wait! Rachel looked at Santana.

Shock horror! Santana was actually doing the test! And she was on question 7! And her answers seemed to be correct!

Rachel raised her eyebrows in surprise: it was possible to have an intelligent Cheerio?

Santana had always seemed a bit like a vindictive airhead, and her grades were usually not that high.

What Rachel didn't know was that Santana's parents had hired a tutor and informed Santana that if she didn't get at least three As she would be shipped off to an English boarding school.

An _all girls _English boarding school.

_**

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A/N: Feedback is much appreciated!**_


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